Title: Towards safer bicycling through optimization of
bicycle helmets and usage
Project type: Multilateral Project
Coordinator at TTF: Assist. Prof. Anica Hursa Šajatović, Ph.D.
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Project logo: |
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http://www.bicycle-helmets.eu/
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Project funding: |
COST is an intergovernmental framework for European Cooperation in Science and Technology, allowing the coordination of nationally-funded research on a European level. COST does not fund research, but facilitates central coordination, through group meetings, visits of individual scientists, funding seminars, etc. A prerequisite of becoming a member of a COST Action is that the activities to be covered by the COST Action are funded or the necessary funds will be made available through internal financing procedures. |
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Chair of the Action: |
Dr. Cornelis Peter (Niels) BOGERD (NL) |
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Vice Chair of the Action: |
Prof. Dietmar OTTE (DE) |
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DC Rapporteurs: |
Prof. Ioannis CHRYSOULAKIS (EL) |
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Science officer of the Action: |
Dr Thierry GOGER |
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Administrative officer of the Action: |
Ms Carmencita MALIMBAN |
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Start of Action: |
06/10/2011 |
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End of Action: |
05/10/2015 |
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Belgium, Croatia, Denmark, Finland, France, Gremany, Greece, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Netherland, Norway, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom |
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Non COST Country: (1) |
Australia |
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Member of the Management Committee from TTF: |
Assist. Prof. Anica Hursa Šajatović, Ph.D. |
Objectives:
The main objectives of this Action is to increase scientific knowledge concerning bicycle helmets in regards to traffic safety and to disseminate this knowledge to stakeholders, including cyclists, legislators, manufacturers, and the scientific community. An additional aim is to stimulate international collaboration within the domain of this Action. The Action focuses on head protection in the event of an accident and also on preventing accidents from occurring. The participation of experts in the primary scientific fields dealing with helmet function and bicycle traffic safety, on a European scale, is the basis of this unique, integral approach.
Project Summary:
Cycling is an excellent sustainable alternative to driving for many journeys. However, cyclists have fewer safety options than car-users, with a helmet being the main safety device that is available. Nonetheless, there are strong indications that increasing bicycle helmet usage for cyclists through legislation causes confounding factors which might cancel out the positive effect of helmets on head and brain injury. Furthermore, current helmet design is suboptimal. Since several fields are important to bicycle helmet optimization, a combined effort involving all of these is necessary so that a given parameter is not optimized at the cost of another. Finally, the attitudes of cyclists towards helmets must be considered if helmet usage is to be changed. This multidisciplinary approach respects the complex nature of the issue, is unique in Europe, and will provide more complete information to legislators, manufacturers, end-users, and scientists, ultimately leading to increased safety for cyclists.
Key words: Bicycle helmets, In-depth accident observations and injury statistics, Traffic psychology, Impact engineering, Ergonomics
Working Groups
| WG1 | In-depth accident observations and injury statistics |
| WG2 | Traffic psychology |
| WG3 | Impact engineering |
| WG4 | Ergonomics of thermal aspects |
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